American and British Literature Comparative Essay

American and British Literature Comparative Essay Difference between American and British Literature Essay Difference between American and British Literature Essay The research paper investigates and analyzes differences between American and British literature. This work is based on the analysis of feminine fairy tales Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (or Alice in Wonderland), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and masculine novels The Jungle Book (stories about Mowgli’s adventures: â€Å"Mowglis Brothers,† â€Å"Tiger! Tiger!† and â€Å"Mowglis Song†), and Tarzan of the Apes. It includes the analysis of these fairy tales and novels in works of different researchers described in the literature review. The main method used in this research paper was the method of comparison of similar situations, events and characters of heroes from the above mentioned literary works. It is notable that American literature describes individualistic society and makes more stress on democracy, revolution and geographical extension of the country, whereas British literature describes collectivistic society and pays attention to historic e vents and autocracy of the ruling class. The language used in British literature is much more complicated, diverse and bright compared to American literature. This research paper describes numerous differences between American and English literature, like plot, characters of main heroes, literary language, etc. It is based on the examination of fairy tales written in the USA and the UK because fairy tales thoroughly reflect different historical, social, and political events and show them in a simple and understandable (for children) manner, without strong influence of personal author’s attitudes. These differences are shown in the analysis of four fairy tales and novels for children: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (or Alice in Wonderland), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book (â€Å"Mowglis Brothers,† â€Å"Tiger! Tiger!† and â€Å"Mowglis Song†), and Tarzan of the Apes. These fairy tales have some similarities, which produce more valuable outcomes of research of differences. American and English writers provide different descriptions of heroes and their destiny, environment, and events which too k place in fairy tales. They use different language to describe similar events. There will be provided a more thorough description and analysis of differences between British and American literature further. This research paper uses works of different researchers for providing a more detailed and relevant analysis of differences between American and British literature. Each researcher analyzed different distinguishing features of the above mentioned fairy tales and novels. This research paper unites their outcomes and provides a joint understanding of differences in the literatures of the USA and the UK. In her work From The Wizard of Oz to Wicked: Trajectory of American myth, Burger pointed out that The Wizard of Oz portrays racial diversification of people in the USA. There is a great variety of nationalities that live in different places of this geographically extensive country. Her ideas are supported by Okihiro (2001). In the article â€Å"Difference between English literature and American literature,† much attention is paid to differences in the literary language of American and British literature. The author stated that the language of British literature is more complicated and bright. It contains more descriptions of landscapes, events and creatures. In her work â€Å"Language -games in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, or: How language operates in Carrolls text to produce nonsensical meanings in common-sense references,† Lemos provides numerous examples of language games from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She also analyses these language games and describes the actual meanings of expressions used by Lewis Carroll. Pokrivcak in his work â€Å"Multiculturalism, transcendentalism, and the fate of American literature† stated his vision of the reasons for linguistic differences between American and British literature, which is based on social and ethnic homogeneity of the UK and diversification of the USA. This research paper is also based on the ideas from the work of Zanger â€Å"Some differences between American and British fantasy literature.† The author describes distinguishing features of feminine and masculine literature and provides an analysis of fairy tales and novels used in this work. This research paper will provide an analysis of American and British fairy tales in terms of differences between the literatures of the two countries. Fairy tales form social behavior of children and the society in general. They describe what is good and what is bad; different social, political as well as economic events; the way the society treats people’s actions. They develop an understanding that any action can lead to certain positive and negative consequences. The second reason why fairy tales were chosen for the investigation of differences between American and British literature is that they provide a more impartial reflection of history, social structure, vision, needs and wishes of people living in a particular period of time compared to other literary works, like novels, poems, etc. The main part of this research is based on the examination and comparison of four different fairy tales and novels. The first one is Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, written in 1865. It reflects the social and political behavior of Victorian England. Alice in Wonderland is compared to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This American fairy tale was written by Frank Baum thirty five years later than Alice in Wonderland. It reflects social and political vision of people living in the 19th century in the USA. Some people consider that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is some kind of American transformation of Alice in Wonderland. This understanding is grounded on several reasons, including a similar subject. Alice and Dorothy are travelling in unusual places and are surrounded by unusual creatures. Both girls left their families due to different circumstances and are searching for the way to come back home. Both fairy tales are female writings, i.e. they are oriented on young female readers. This is reflected in the use of a young girl as the main hero; in more complicated and unusual language; a great number of descriptions (much more than dialogues); attempts to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way. Also, both fairy tales incorporate miracles, thaumaturgy, mystics, etc. All above mentioned similarities promote the understanding that the analysis of differences between American and British literature should be performed particularly on these fairy tales for elimination of any considerable improper outcomes based on differences in plot, main hero, etc. In addition, two male’s fairy tales were chosen for analysis and assessment. The first source is the collection of stories about Mowgli The Jungle Book written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894. It will be compared with the American fairy tale Tarzan of the Apes, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs eighteen years later. These fairy tales are also united by a similar plot, description of jungles, and the male main hero. Masculine character of these adventure fairy tales is reflected in numerous dialogues; short sentences and simple word constructions; martial character; more warlike ways of resolving the conflict (through a fight). Both The Jungle Book and Tarzan of the Apes include stories that describe adventures of the main heroes, which are closer to reality. The four fairy tales were chosen because all of them have considerable similarities, such as the plot, struggle against different enemies, and search for a way out from difficult situations. All actions and adventures have some particular goal that is finally reached, which can be united by the understanding that virtue conquered evil. They describe adventures of the main hero and his or her surrounding (like-minded creatures). The second similarity is reflected in the description of numerous unusual animals and creatures. The third one lies in uncommon environment where adventures take place. The last similarity is that the fairy tales were written in almost the same time period and reflect the same historical and social events. This research paper will provide an investigation of differences between British and American literature by using the method of content analysis (analysis of social and historical background); analysis of characters and behavior of the main heroes of British and American fairy tales; locations where adventures took place; literature language used in these writings; representation of virtue and villainy; background of good and bad actions; characteristics of the societies shown in these fairy tales; representation of the ruling class and its behavior; the way how the hero overcomes obstacles in the path of his or her goals. The content, main heroes and their characters, social and political background of these writings will be thoroughly analyzed and compared. Several citations from these fairy tales will support ideas formed during the research of the differences between American and British literature. This research paper will not describe the plot of fairy tales or pay much attention to the historical period when these fairy tales were written as it seems to be unnecessary for this research. Discussion and dissection of different parts of four tales will be enough for reflect the differences between the literature of the USA and the UK. The results of analysis of Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book and Tarzan of the Apes are provided below. The majority of outcomes are supported by explanations, researchers’ thoughts and citations. The first difference between British and American literature is reflected in the behavior of the main hero. Dorothy and Tarzan are self-confident, self-sufficient and a little bit egoistic personalities. They are aimed primarily at gaining personal benefit, such as coming back home, and only then at providing benefit to the society. These heroes in many situations can rely only on themselves. American literature reflects the individualistic nature and history of Americans. Several centuries ago these people came to the continent of North America and could rely only on themselves for survival. Additionally, it should be mentioned that American literature contains descriptions of close groups of people (or creatures) who put their interests above the rest. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, such group of creatures consists of the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. The story begins with the description of the main goal of their adventure: Dorothy wants to find the way back home, and each of the creatures has its own personal goal in this adventure. Providing help to the other is represented as by-effect of the adventure. This reflects the behavior of Americans, who distinctly separate interests of their nation from the interests of the other nations. The characters of the main heroes in the British fairy tales are quite different. Alice often receives help from the Hatter, the dog, etc. The story Alice in Wonderland reflects the behavior of the collectivistic society, where a group of people (or creatures) have one joint goal. Special attention should be paid to the social structure described in the female fairy tales. Alice comes from an aristocratic family, whereas Dorothy’s family (grandparents) lives in more stringent conditions (like the majority of Americans of the 19th century) (Dobrinescu, n.d.). Close attention should be directed at the time and place described in American and British fairy tales. Usually in American literature â€Å"the fantastic is continually mingled with the ordinary, with the ‘real’ world† (Zanger, n.d.). Zanger (n.d.) states that â€Å"magic countries† in Africa and in Oz â€Å"employ the familiar American device of incongruity.† However, both fairy tales, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Tarzan of the Apes, describe adventures that happened in a present time. At the same time, the majority of British fairy tales describe adventure of heroes in prehistoric or even mythic past (Hevesiova, 2010). Familiar lands, sights and histories (for example Stonehenge) are usually shown in these fairy tales. British writers can reflect a great history of their country in their stories, whereas American writers rely more on their imagination and great unstudied scopes of their country. Frank Baum described a great variety of different races that lived in different locations of America (Okihiro, 2001). He portrays different racial groups living in separate locations in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, â€Å"Gillikins in the North, Munchk in the East, Quadlings in the South, and Winkies in the West† (Burger, 2009). In addition, special attention should be paid to the attitude to the ways of administrating authority that are reflected in American and British literature. Thus, British society paid much attention to the king or lord and his power. The society has strongly differentiated the political structure (or fixed system of ranks), which is usually turned on the basis of birth. By contrast, in American literature the power is obtained by force and remains in the hands of the main hero as long as he or she is strong and skillful. Thus, Dorothy and Tarzan at the end of the stories â€Å"move from private obscurity to greatness, then back to relative obscurity again† (Tarzan went back to his Jungle, and Dorothy returned to her family in Kansas) (Zanger, n.d.). Different heroes of British fairy tales pass through different social stages and integrate into the community and social or political order, reflected in the aristocracy and kingship. Alice realized her role and responsibility of saving Wonderland only through overcoming numerous difficulties. Mowgli also burned and later killed Shere Khan only after becoming wiser, older, and stronger. Numerous animals supported him in his struggle against monkeys, the tiger and people. Moreover, considerable attention should be paid to the fact that British literature describes the absolutism of power, i.e. the presence of one king or ruler in the society (like Akela and Mowgli). American literature shows political power and rulers in a different way. At the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, three main creatures (the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and Tin Man) â€Å"move to take their respective kingdoms† where they act as â€Å"politician, the worker in agriculture and the mechanic† (Zanger, n.d.). The election process of ruler is performed by acclamation. Frank Baum describes democratization and separation of power in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Differences in American and British literature are also manifested in the description of evil in the above mentioned and other popular fairy tales. In British literature â€Å"evil is often depicted as emerging from below - Goblins, Weasels, Orcs, Morlocks, Shere Khan, cobras Nag and Nagaina (from Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) - possessing a kind of intrinsic wickedness quite apart from any inspired organizing principle that leads them† (Zanger, n.d.). Evil forces are usually represented as proletarian creatures. At the same time, American evil is more autocratic. In Tarzan of the Apes, evil comes from outside â€Å"from above in the farm of British bankers slaughtering game, or Arab slavers, or German diamond hunters, or a variety of European types motivated uniformly by greed† (Zanger, n.d.). As a rule, American bad heroes did evil things (like Munchkins) under constraint of stronger features and forces which they cannot withstand (like in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Tarzan of the Apes). Also, much attention should be paid to finals of such male fairy tales as The Jungle Book and Tarzan of the Apes. The main heroes of both writings were brought up by animals: Tarzan was brought up by monkeys, whereas Mowgli was brought up by different animals that lived in jungles (a bear, snake, panther and wolfs). However, in the final Mowgli found his bellowed and started to live with other people, whereas Tarzan felt uncomfortable with other people and returned to jungles. The finals of two fairy tales reflected differences in British and American society. The former is more collectivistic, whereas the latter is more individualistic. Much attention should be paid to literary language of fairy tales of the UK and the USA. The language of British fairy tales contains more bright descriptions and sophisticated literary expressions than the language of the American ones (â€Å"Difference between,† 2014). For example, in Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll used numerous language games, where words have indirect meanings. Examples of such language games are thoroughly analyzed by Lemos. The evaluation of a dialogue between Alice and the Hatter will be provided below: Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity, ‘What a funny watch!’ she remarked. ‘It tells the day of the month and doesn’t tell what o’clock it is!’ ‘Why should it?’ muttered the Hatter. ‘Does your watch tell you what year it is?’ ‘Of course not,’ Alice replied very readily: ‘but that’s because it stays in the same year for such a long time together.’ ‘Which is just the case with mine,’ said the Hatter (Lemos, 2009). The author combined meaningful language of Alice and on the first view nonsensical language of the Hatter in this dialogue. However, Hatter’s language has more sense than Alice’s, because at the March Hare’s house the time remains the same (six o’clock). Therefore, common clock are useless, and Hatter’s clock is useful because it shows the time (Lemos, 2009). Numerous linguistic challenges make the whole British literature and works of Lewis Carroll in particular unusual and memorable. The background of linguistic differences between American and British literatures are analyzed by Pokrivcak are reflected in the following words: â€Å"the difference lies especially in the fact that while European literatures have grown out of linguistically and ethnically homogeneous sources, the literatures of the United States have always been a product of several cultures speaking various languages† (Pokrivcak, 2010). American main heroes (Dorothy and Tarzan) are a little bit egoistic personalities that have such features as self-reliance, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency. They usually rely only on themselves. These heroes reflect the individualistic character of the American society. On the contrary, British society and characters of main heroes (Alice and Mowgli) are more collectivistic. Mowgli and Alice rely on the help and support of the group of like-minded creatures. Places where the adventures happen differ greatly in the writings of American and British authors. Events in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Tarzan of the Apes took place in real time, but in places which are far from readers. On the other hand, events of British fairy tales usually happen in pre-historic and mythic time periods. Attitudes to political order and administration authority are also quite different in the literatures of the USA and the UK. British fairy tales contain numerous descriptions of immortal soul of kingship and strict political order. Kingship is usually based on birth. In American fairy tales the authority is gained by power and skills. American literature describes a more democratic political order and availability of several rulers. The nature of evil is different in American and British fairy tales. In American fairy tales evil comes from outside, whereas in British fairy tales evil usually has an inherent character. Literary language of British fairy tales is more bright and colorful. It contains numerous complex language constructions and even language games (in Alice in Wonderland). By contrast, American literary language is simpler, with larger number of dialogues and shorter descriptions. This research paper provides an analysis of extinguish characteristics of four fairy tales and novels written by American and British writers. These fairy tales and novels are Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book (novels about Mowgli’s adventures) and Tarzan of the Apes. They are connected by similar plot and time of creation. This provides more thorough and reliable outcomes of analysis of the literature of two countries. American and British literature have numerous differences reflected in the characteristics of the main heroes and description of their adventures, plots of the stories and literature language. All of these differences are based on distinctive histories, social orders, and views of life. Both American and English literatures depict different aspects of life of people who live on the territories of these countries. No one can definitely state that one literature is much better than the others. Every reader chooses the literature that is more suitable and attractive for him or her. This research paper not only describes differences between literatures of the USA and the UK but also recommends familiarizing oneself with both of them. Apart from that, it states that analysis should be made on similar types of writings which were created in the same (or almost the same) time periods for elimination of irrelevant outcomes. It is recommended to analyze works that have similar plots and characters in order to find out particularly literature differences. This will allow supporting the statements described in this work. Also, readers can find other differences between the literatures of the two great countries.

Technical Communication Sample Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technical Communication Sample - Essay Example iting under scrutiny here is a White Paper, ‘Building a World Class Online Storage Infrastructure’ (July 13, 2000) from Driveway Corporation, pioneers in the field of online file storage service. The document details how Driveway Corporation developed an efficient 24X7 online storage service. There are certain essential features that are usually present in technical writing. Some of them are title page, disclaimer, abstract, acknowledgement, contents page, introduction, main sections and sub-sections, conclusions, references, and appendices. Now, a look into the Driveway Corporation White Paper proves that it contains many of these essential features that make it a perfect example of technical writing. It starts with a title page, followed by a disclaimer page. As in a technical writing, there is a fully developed table of contents and an executive summary. Thereafter, there are various subsections and finally a conclusion. Evidently, the White Paper epitomizes the conce pt of technical communication. There are some other features too that keep it different from the ordinary academic writing. This technical communication gives no chance for entertainment. In other words, the style of writing is simple, concise and ‘to the fact’. The second point is the total absence of emotive language in this piece of work. As the intention is only to convey information, the language used is as highly objective as possible. Yet another feature is that this work tries to be as concise as possible by avoiding sentences with so many clauses which are confusing to read. The last feature to be mentioned is the clarity presented throughout the work. In technical writing, the presentation should not be ambiguous. The Driveway Corporation White Paper intends to explain the various factors that made the company start its online storage service. It details how its online storage infrastructure works, its design goals, storage capacity, and security. It also explains how the storage

Popular Culture Media The Production of Popular Culture ( See Essay

Popular Culture Media The Production of Popular Culture ( See questionsessay thesis below) - Essay Example Retro presents history as an essential entity presented in a historical way giving historical references while reviving associated trends acts in conditions that comes under the conditions of discontinuity, rupture, and multiplicity. The boost in consumerism through retro vision and philosophy is because of the synchronous understanding that the retro would present the past as inspiration and bringing back the realities of life in a reflection. Though there is nothing like historic or authentic but is powerful enough to present the whole as a fusion of old and new. The aspects that are selected from the past are only positive. This position is not too concerned with the diversity within retro but looks at the various manifestations separately. The extreme swinging of retro of the present would led to the emergence of for instance from 1950s ladylike style with its prim to pretty look in the mid-1990s would help in bein

Guido Fubini Essay Example for Free

Guido Fubini Essay Guido Fubini, A famous mathematician, was born January 19th 1987 in Venice, Italy. His father, Lazzaro Fubini, was a mathematics teacher so he came from a mathematical background. Guido was influenced by his father towards mathematics when he was young. He attended secondary school in Venice where he showed that he was brilliant in mathematics. It was then clear that from this stage he would follow this career. In 1896 Guido entered the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. There he was taught by Dini and Bianchi, who quickly influenced Guido to undertake research in geometry. He presented his doctoral thesis Cliffords Parallelism in Elliptic Spaces in 1900. Most young doctoral students take a few years to make themselves well know in their area. However, Guido was lucky for his teacher Bianchi was about to publish an important work on differential geometry. Bianchi discussed the results of Guidos thesis in his treatise, which appeared in 1902. Guido remained at Pisa to qualify as a university teacher. Most mathematicians at this stage in their careers extend the work they have begun in their doctoral thesis, but not Guido. He attacked a completely new topic to the one he had studied for his doctoral thesis studying the theory of harmonic functions in spaces of constant curvature. Guidos interests were exceptionally wide moving from his early work on differential geometry towards analysis. In this area he work on differential equations, analytic functions, and functions of several complex variables. He taught courses on these analysis topics at both the Politecnico and the University in Turin. During World War I, Guido studied the accuracy of artillery. These investigations led him on to work on acoustics and electricity. Guido was forced to retire from his chair in Turin. He had no wish to leave Italy but he had two sons who were engineers and, always a man who was devoted to his family, Guido decided that his sons had no future in a country whose official policy was anti-Semitism. When he received an invitation from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1939, Guido  made the decision which he believed was best for his family. They moved to the United States immediately, although Guido himself was in rather poor health by this time. Still, despite his health problem, he was able to teach for a few years in New York. 5 years after moving to the United State Guido died of heart Problems on June 6th 1943.

Black Arrival In Canada :: essays research papers

The arrival of blacks in Canada is a very interesting topic. In 1606 Mattieu DaCosta, a translator for a European ship named Jonas was first black man that was recorded in Canada’s history(he was from Portugal). His job was to translate the language of the â€Å"MicMac† Indians during trade on the Pierre deGua expedition. Later in 1628, a British ship went up the St. Lawrence River to arrive at New France. In its cargo was a single Madagascan Black chil. This child, who was six years old at the time, was in possession by David Kirke who was a famous privateer who, with blessings of King Charles 1, was executing raids on young French colonies. The African child was the first known Black resident of Canada. He came as a slave. The subsequent year David Kirke captured Quebec City from, Samual deChamplain, it's founder. In 1713, the French territory of Acadia was ceded to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht. Southern settlers from New England moved north into the area, which was re-named Nova Scotia on July 4th 1776, the war for Canada's Independence. At this time there were approximately 500,000 blacks on which the French and the British counted on to assist them in fighting for their(the blacks) freedom. The first rebel to be killed was black, Chris Pazatex. One fifth of them were killed. After the war was over the British somewhat kept their promise. The promise of freedom and relocation for slaves to Nova Scotia. However, only 1 out of 10 to relocate were black. The promise was land, but only a small few received and owned any land. Most worked in houses of whites at a quarter of their wage. The majority of Black Loyalists were transported between April and September 1783.

Free Writing Essay

Many annoying habits exist and bother so many human beings on earth. This is because there are so many people who are forgetting the importance of having good manners and do not practice it at all (Granato). One of these people is my friend whom I treasure like a family. However, despite her annoying habit, I still remain a true, loving and loyal friend to her. While friends are one of the most important people in one’s life, there are times when they do some things that can be really exasperating and annoying, such as habits that they cannot get rid of which can make one’s nerves and blood boil. In the case of my friend, she has this habit of burping for no reason at all. For instance, she burps while watching a movie, shopping or strolling in the mall, talking, and worst, while and after eating. She considers it as an amazing talent and not a disgusting behavior. On the contrary, she laughs and always feels proud of herself every time she does it. It bothers me a lot, and I feel ashamed of her whenever people around us hear her burp. Thus, I confronted her about her disgusting habit. I told her that having good manners is one of the most important values, and it is something that people should always bring with them wherever they go and whatever they do in their lives. However, it seems that it does not affect her at all. She just said that if I am a true friend, then I would just have to accept her and deal with her annoying habit. After all, I have some habits that annoy her too. Fair enough, I think that she has a point and that she is right on what she said. I probably have a habit that annoys her too or other people and that I am not really aware of. In that sense, having good manners rarely can be found on people, or only a few value it and think that it is still important these days. After all, true friends accept each other’s attitude, manners or behaviors no matter how good or bad it is because true friends never judge nor deny their friends for who they are and what they have or do not have. Consequently, I realized that no matter how annoying the habit of my friend is, I should just accept and deal with it if she really cannot get rid of the habit because for me, friendship is more important than any annoying habits in the world. Works Cited Granato, Sherri. â€Å"11 Highly Annoying Habits of Rude People. † Associated Content. 8 January 2007. 20 January 2009 .

The Myths Of Nuclear Power Safety - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2201 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/08/16 Category Energy Industry Essay Level High school Tags: Nuclear Power Essay Did you like this example? There are many myths and lies surrounding pro-nuclear power that are being made public by people who have a vested interest in the production and growth of the nuclear power industry. The myths that nuclear is a safe energy source, cost less to construct and operate, is better for the environment and has little risk of being used for terrorism all are being presented to the public from the media who are being fed these lies by the Nuclear Science Organization and nuclear power business when in fact nuclear power poses a huge safety and environmental risk to all living life forms.  Ã‚   The public has a right to be educated on the truths that surround these lies and to be educated on the subject of nuclear power.. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Myths Of Nuclear Power Safety" essay for you Create order Nuclear power plants are very complex systems which are operated by humans who can and do make mistakes such as improper maintenance leading to equipment failures and human error makes a future meltdown possible no matter how well a plant is designed. Human error can cause accidents and failures that cause safety concerns for the workers, the environment and the general public. There are also many safety concerns because of failure that result from natural disasters flooding, fires and earthquakes.   We have seen many accidents and failures of nuclear power facilities such as those in Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima that could be avoided in the future with the discontinuation of nuclear power facilities. One of the most common myths surrounding nuclear power is that the operating costs of nuclear power stations are far less than those of a coal power station. Nuclear power and coal stations actually have similar costs in the combined expenses of operation, maintenance and fuel costs. Nuclear power plants only have a lower fuel cost but they have a higher operation and maintenance cost which operationally becomes very comparable to that of a coal power station.   New nuclear plant construction has a very high initial capital investment with an estimated construction cost upward of $9 billion per unit and most nuclear power stations have not been built within budget and most greatly exceed these budgets. The last station constructed in Finland was â€Å"3 years behind schedule and at least 1.7 billion euros over budget† (Disendorf). Another common myth with nuclear power is that very little waste is produced compared to coal power, this results in an unfair and misleading comparison. The high level nuclear waste produced by the nuclear power plant is uranium which contains radioactive material and is extremely hazardous to all life forms as well as the environment. The radioactive waste material is regulated by the government and must be properly contained and isolated in order to protect human life as well as the environment. Coal power does produce waste in the form of coal ash however when compared in the same amount to that of radioactive waste the coal ash has much less harmful properties and some of this wast e can be reused for things such as making concrete. When it comes to the discussion of dealing with the radioactive waste produced by the nuclear power plants one myth being reported is that the problem has been solved long term in the managing of the high level nuclear wastes. The truth is this problem has been solved in engineering theory meaning that according to science and on paper there is a solution but this problem has never actually been solved in practice of safely disposing and storing the radioactive material. â€Å"There is no long- term high-level nuclear waste dump operating in the world† (Disendorf ). The dump site on the Yucca Mountian in Nevada was shut down in 2010 under the orders of President Obama when he suspended licensing needed for this facility to operate in order to continue storing high levels of nuclear waste. The countries of Finland and Sweden are in the process of building underground dumps for nuclear waste storage which is a temporary solution because no one knows how to create facilities that can house and will be able to keep radioactive waste safe for long periods of time, the waste must be kept safe and undisturbed for at least 10,000 years. Reprocessing or recycling of the nuclear waste is an idea that has been introduced to solve the problem with storage of these waste products. Unused fuel can be recycled to make new fuel and most of the waste after the recycling process would only require a storage time of 300 years leaving only about 1% of the waste radioactive. Recycling or reprocessing the nuclear waste seems like a great plan in theory however reprocessing would be very costly and poses environmental and safety concerns. Reprocessing uses a series of chemical operations which separates the plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste that comes from the used fuel in the nuclear power reactors.   The separated plutonium can be used to fuel reactors however the cost of the reprocessing and the use of plutonium to fuel the reactors is far more expensive than using uranium fuel and disposing of the used fuel or nuclear waste directly. Due to the prohibitive costs the U.S. decided in the late 1970’s to not reprocess the used fuel from their reactors but to dispose of the waste in an underground repository where it would need to remain isolated for at least tens of thousands of years from the environment.   A recent industry estimate showed that a reprocessing plant with a capacity of processing 2,000 metric tons of nuclear fuel waste annually would cost $20 billion to build and two of these facilities would be needed in the U.S. alone just to reprocess all of it’s nuclear fuel waste. If spent fuel is not disposed of properly it could be used for or stolen by terrorists and used for creating a nuclear weapon which causes security issues. Reprocessing would increase the risk of nuclear terrorism, very little plutonium less than 20 pounds in fact is needed to make a simple nuclear weapon. If the U.S. continues it’s practice of storing nuclear power waste the plutonium remains bound in the used fuel making it impossible to steal however when plutonium is separated it’s stored in a concentrated powder form increasing the risk of theft and terrorism. There are a few arguments surrounding the threat of nuclear weapons being produced from the waste. One argument is countries that are currently using nuclear power or pursuing the use of nuclear power have signed a treaty stating they will comply with the rules of not using their nuclear technologies toward making nuclear weapons however any country with nuclear technology needs to be considered a great risk. Security of the nuclear plants has been a large concern because many of these plants do not follow the same safety measures and protocols in the protection of the nuclear byproducts resulting in a high probability of a security breech, theft and misuse of the spent fuel. Some argue the spent fuel from the reactors of a nuclear power station does not produce weapon grade plutonium which would not be usable in making a nuclear weapon.   Nuclear bombs have been made from the reactor grade plutonium and although they are less efficient and less predictable the amount of damage is still the same, in fact the unpredictability of these weapons makes the risk greater. Another argument is the countries that have developed nuclear weapons used military facilities and not civil facilities to research and develop their weapons. The truth is many countries have used civil nuclear power plants and spent fuel to develop nuclear bombs, these countries include India, Pakistan, North Korea and currently Iran. Other countries such as the UK and France used nuclear power to add to their stocks of plutonium. The countries of Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Libya, South Africa and Taiwan used nuclear power to begin the research and testing process for developing nuclear power but decided to dismantle their facilities. My final argument on nuclear power is safety for the environment and all living life form. Nuclear power has been called a clean source of energy and the nuclear power plants are said to not release carbon dioxide emissions. This is a deceivingly true statement. Nuclear power plants may not emit carbon dioxide during operation but every step in the nuclear fuel cycle except the actual operation of the reactors burn fossil fuels and emit carbon dioxide. Nuclear power plants use uranium ore as fuel and the mining process releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment. There is also Carbon dioxide released into the environment when new nuclear power plants are built and in the transport of radioactive waste also causing carbon dioxide emissions. Nuclear power plants are constantly emitting radiation, though these are low levels of radiation it’s a constant emission into the environment. Studies have shown an increased rate of cancer among people who have worked in nuclear power plants and those who have lived near these nuclear power plants. â€Å"The degree of damage low levels of radiation cause to wildlife, plants and the ozone layer is not fully understood. More research is being done to determine the magnitude of effects caused by low levels of radiation in the environment.† (Kivi) Cooling systems have been put into place to keep the nuclear power reactors from overheating however these cooling systems are causing problems to the environment. Water is pulled from rivers and oceans to cool the reactors however fish are being sucked into these intake systems resulting in the death of many fish. When the water is used to cool the system it is then returned to the ocean or river from which it came but it is now roughly twenty five degrees warmer than the water was originally, the warming of the water causes a shock on the fish and plant life killing more fish. The transportation and storage of the nuclear waste poses another safety and environmental concern. Nuclear waste is often not stored onsite and requires transportation to a storage facility. The waste would be transported in large trucks and in the event of an accident or a possible leak it would cause a large radioactive spill site causing contamination to our soil and water ways. We could also see soil contamination in the even of the casks the waste is stored in leaking and with the storage needing to be maintained for a minimum of 10,000 there is no way to know if they will hold up. Even when we take human error out of the equation we will still have natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis like the ones that caused the damage and failure of the plant in Fukushima. These natural disasters resulted in major damage to the nuclear reactors causing the system leak radioactive waste releasing radioactivity into the air, soil and sea. The contamination of the area led to a large evacuation that is still in effect for many people who are displaced from their homes without an end in sight. This was a devastating event for the people of Japan as well as the sea life and has been a very costly clean up and repair process and a drain on not only the country of Japan but other countries as well.   There are also concerns about other types of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados and even the rise in sea level that can lead to catastrophic failures. Do the benefits of nuclear power out weigh the risks? The list of fallacies told by the nuclear power companies to the general public will continue to go on and on but the facts show that most all of their claims are lies. Many of the statements given only contain partial truths such as many environmentalists have become pro-nuclear, when in truth aside from two well know environmentalists very few prominent environmentalists are pro-nuclear. Another example of these partial truths is with the decrease in oil production we will need nuclear power as a substitute. The truth is the main sources of fuel for our electricity generation globally are coal and gas. Oil is mostly burnt for transportation so unless electric cars become used much more largely globally in our daily transportation nuclear power is irrelevant as a solution for oil conservation as we see a decline in oil production. As long as the nuclear power companies continue to be in business lies will be told and the people of the general public will have to look outside of the media in order to obtain facts and educate themselves on the hidden agenda of those in the business of seeing nuclear power succeed. The safety, cost and sustainability of nuclear power have been falsely reported on for many years because of lies fed to the media by those with a vested interest in seeing growth in the nuclear power industry. Those lies have only taken into consideration the best interest in the growth of the nuclear power business and have not considered what is in the best interest of the environment, or human life which is you the people who will be living with the consequences of their decisions.